Gerry, in May 2008 I was 63 and was paying way too much money to United Healthcare for my health insurance. In 18 months I would be eligible for Medicare so I wanted to get issues resolved before the transition. While reading through the UHC manual I came across a line that showed 100% coverage for prosthetics. My really handy heavy duty artificial arm needed some work, mostly replacing leather straps that were 35 years old. Had to visit an orthopedic arm specialist and get a prescription before the local prosthetic company would do anything.
At my first appointment the prosthetic specialist asked why I didn't have a myoelectric arm. I responded that I didn't think my insurance covered it. He looked it up and sure enough, it was 100% covered. They replaced the rotted leather on my old arm and tested my stump for skin sensor viability. The muscles in my stump still worked and gave a strong signal so they fitted me for a Utah 3 arm. The arm has a motor to move the elbow with the ability to lift a 50 pound weight in the hand. The wrist has a motor to rotate it 360 degrees in either direction. Finally, the hand (and/or hook) has another motor to open or close the device.
I had a couple of hours of training and was supposed to practice at home. I quickly learned the hand and hook could easily crush a can, whether it was full or empty. I decided to hold soda cans in my real hand after a few carpet cleaning episodes. Even when I got decent control over the hand closure, an inadvertent muscle contraction would cause the wrist to rotate and pour the soda can on the carpet. It was especially annoying because panic stopping and reversing the wrist rotation merely poured the soda out in the opposite direction, making a second carpet cleaning target.
Because I was used to a front shoulder shrug to lock and unlock the mechanical elbow and a back flexion to move the forearm up, we decided to add a couple of microswitches to mimic the locking shrug and the forearm flexion. It took a while to learn to stay very still when using the arm because it was real easy to release the elbow lock and drop whatever I was holding in the hand at the time.
The arm came with its own manual and had some disturbing information in it. Water is the enemy of the electronics so you can't get the arm wet. The manual also suggested turning the arm off while driving because errant signals inside the vehicle could cause the arm to react without you intending that.
The Utah 3 arm uses a custom battery that turned out to be an issue with UHC. The five batteries ordered with the arm totaled $500 and the folks who review such things at United who Cares rejected the payment. A few hours talking to machines and pressing buttons and the issue was resolved. But wait -- UHC also has lawyers so one of their finest sent me a Certified, signature required letter asking about the lawsuit settlement from my accident and the law firm that handled it. Whatever compensation I received would offset the cost of the prosthesis. Spent more time replying to the letter and explaining the total amount of the settlement was $0. The law firm explained it was my word against the super trustworthy and honest conductors on the train but more importantly the railroad lawyers were claiming I was just like my brother, who had committed suicide 18 months before my accident. I enclosed a check made out to United Healthcare for the full amount (Zero Dollars and No Cents). Never heard back from them. From left to right, 1) Captain Heine at the barbie wearing first arm, 2) front view of second mechanical arm, 3) rear view with new leather and 4) the Utah 3 arm in its carrying case ($25,000 gets you a free case).
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